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11.45 am
Mr. Tony Colman (Putney): Before I make my speech, I declare an interest as chair of the all-party retail industry group, chair of the all-party London arts and culture group, a former member of the London Arts Board, a former chair of the Wimbledon theatre trust, a member of the board of the Polka theatre and of the national theatre for children, and a trustee of the Music Therapy trust. I come from a lineage of Members of Parliament representing Putney who have had an interest in culture, media and sport. I refer to Lord Jenkins of Putney, who was an eminent Minister for the Arts in the 1970s. When he moved to the upper House, he continued that interest--he is now 90 and still going strong--as chair of the theatre trust. His successor as MP for Putney and a Minister for the Arts was David Mellor, who was referred to earlier. I must find out more about the "Mellor splurge"; it sounds like a good idea to splurge money on the arts. I may disagree with him over certain matters such as his support for football teams--mine is Norwich City--and, principally, over politics, but we are in agreement about support for the arts.
I crave your indulgence, Mr. Deputy Speaker, before I review Government support for the arts in my constituency, in the London borough of Wandsworth, in London and nationally, for returning to the subject of broadcasting. I realise that that was the subject of a debate as recently as 29 October 1999, but I reflect that, if a week is a long time in politics, three weeks is a very long time; and I felt that, as I was unable to catch your eye on that occasion, the debate may have been slightly unbalanced.
I realise that in the House one does not criticise, in the absence of a Member, that Member's conduct, but I say very mildly that I was surprised that my right hon. Friend the Member for Manchester, Gorton (Mr. Kaufman) took a very strong position on the Davies report before he and the other members of the Select Committee on Culture, Media and Sport had received evidence on the subject. The Committee continues to receive evidence. I hope that if, having taken that evidence, he is of a different view, he will express it to the House.
I have complained to the Modernisation Committee that it is a great shame that, given the excellent work that Select Committees do--in this case reviewing the situation on the digital licence fee and the digital changeover--reports of their work are not made available, the following day, to all Members of the House so that it can be shared beyond the 20 or so Members of the Committee concerned. I hope that the Select Committee can publish its report well before the end of December, which is when the Secretary of State has said that he will take his decision. I suggest to my right hon. Friend the Member for Gorton and the Select Committee that they may therefore wish to speed up publication of their final report.
I very much support the Davies committee's conclusion that a digital licence fee for the BBC is the best solution. I believe that that would continue the established practice that people pay more when there is a major change in the technical capabilities of their main receiver. I believe that it is analogous to the introduction of television and later of colour TV. It would reduce resentment among those who have not adopted digital technology at the fact that about 10 per cent. of their licence fee was being spent on something from which they did not benefit. I strongly emphasise that; my constituents have told me that they share that view. Rather like the decision to give the Bank of England control in setting interest rates, once the initial decision was taken by the Government, it would remove the BBC licence fee from the arena of party political controversy for many years.
The independent industry experts DotEcon have said that
Research conducted by the British Market Research Bureau--an independent research firm--on behalf of the BBC shows that the licence fee system is supported by the public in very large numbers. I therefore suggest that the Secretary of State should consider that option.
In his speech in the debate on broadcasting on 29 October, the Secretary of State repeated the two key tests that he originally mentioned in the Royal Television Society lecture on 17 September. They were, first, that everyone must be able to get the main free-to-air TV channels digitally, and secondly, that that must be affordable. I shall address those points.
I was surprised to discover that only 65 million TV sets are currently used in the United Kingdom. When one divides that figure by the number of people in the UK, the sums do not seem to add up. I have six TV sets. The oldest is a 1976 model, black and white, and still going strong. I purchased the youngest in 1989. I do not believe that it is unusual to have six sets because, on buying a
new set, one does not throw out the old one; it is simply moved into another room. I am surprised to read the statistics showing that, supposedly, the average life of a set is only seven years. If we count back from 1999, that takes us only to 1992. It is extraordinary that there has been no real analysis of the number of sets that will have to be junked unless we take a different route.
I say junked, because at the moment no one seems to be talking about the need to convert existing sets. We have experienced the North sea gas changeover and had our houses invaded to have our TVs retuned for Channel 5, so what is wrong with the idea that all existing TV sets could be converted? No one is talking about that. It has not been on the public agenda. I draw it to the attention of the Independent Television Commission/Oftel/Office of Fair Trading working party, and of the retail industry and the media.
I see today that Carlton Communications and United News and Media are about to amalgamate and become a £7 billion conglomerate. We have BSkyB and the Murdoch corporations. If the Government brought together the media and retailers, who have a great interest in selling all the add-on products that can come with digital, it might be possible to ensure that the existing sets can be converted. I would suggest that the conversion be free of charge for those who are of pensionable age, and that there be a very minor fee for those below that age. That is in all our interests. Tremendous advantages will flow from digital radio and TV, and it will give the country a world lead. However, no one--but no one--has suggested that as a way forward. I strongly believe that it should be investigated. As Mr. John Clare, chief executive of Dixons, has said, to meet the challenge of the switch-over, we need to put the consumer first. Amen to that. I do not believe that it has happened yet.
After that slight diversion, re-running the debate of three weeks ago, I shall resume my consideration of Government support for the arts. I shall first review the situation in my constituency and borough. Although it may be rare for me to do so, I pay tribute to Wandsworth council because it has provided good support for the arts. In particular, I commend its support of the Battersea arts centre, which makes real, live arts provision not just for Putney, Battersea and the London borough of Wandsworth, but for the whole of London. The council funds it jointly with the London Arts Board.
The Wandsworth arts festival is just coming to its end. It has been running for more than three weeks and, as part of a partnership with the festival, Wandsworth council has given £37,000 net, including grants. Over the three weeks, there have been 175 performances. The festival included a dance week at the Battersea arts centre, a Wandsworth film week, which built on the film fund offered by the council in association with the London Film and Video Development Agency, and a community programme. We all have much to learn from the way in which Amber Valley has developed its community programmes, but we had a good programme in Wandsworth too. My hon. Friend the Member for Rotherham (Mr. MacShane) might be interested to learn that Young's brewery sponsored a series of "Poems with your pint". They were very well attended and brought poetry to beer drinkers who perhaps did not expect to be listening to poetry when they were seeking a good pint of Young's best. The vibrant local arts economy is reflected by the Wandsworth arts festival.
I wish to draw attention to certain parts of my constituency. The Roehampton institute has an excellent dance and drama department and does world-class work in music therapy. Group 64 has worked at the Goodrich theatre since 1964 and it obtained a lottery grant of more than £300,000 to purchase the theatre and to upgrade it. It is a tremendous site for a whole range of theatrical provision for the Putney area.
I also draw attention to the work of Music For Youth. We have heard about the National Foundation for Youth Music, which the Government have introduced recently, but Music For Youth, which is based in Putney, has been going for 25 years. It has largely commercial sponsorship. This year, the BBC held an excellent children's prom in the park, and I commend it to anyone who could not attend. However, Music For Youth has staged promenade concerts for all its 25 years. At the beginning of November, it packed the Albert hall night after night with music makers of all ages under 18. That provided a showcase for children, but the company holds concerts throughout the United Kingdom, including Northern Ireland. I commend its work to the House.
The Children's Film Unit is also based in Putney, and it very much needs Government support. It previously received strong commercial sponsorship, but that has faded of late. My hon. Friend the Member for Hampstead and Highgate (Ms Jackson) cut her teeth at the unit and appeared in its films early in her career.
I have described a range of what is happening in Putney. If the Minister has the time, I would welcome it if he could attend the last event of the Wandsworth arts festival, which will be a performance tomorrow evening--Saturday--by the excellent Wandsworth symphony orchestra in St. Mary's church, Putney. I represent a vibrant community that receives significant support from local government and central Government through the funding of the London Arts Board.
The second theme that I wish to consider is London. I had hoped that more Members from outside London would be present today, but I am pleased that my hon. Friend the Member for Amber Valley (Judy Mallaber) is still here. The all-party group on London arts and culture was set up because we thought that London's case was going by the board. If hon. Members wish to hear more, the group will hold a meeting on 9 December, at which it will discuss mayoral strategy. It will discuss how the mayor and the Greater London Authority can ensure that provision for culture, media and sport takes account of the needs of all London. I pay tribute to the vice-chair of the group, the right hon. Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Brooke), who is an eminent Member of the House and a former Secretary of State for National Heritage.
A question on the lips of people outside London--it has not been asked yet today--is why London receives more in arts funding than other regions. I must point out that London is three cities in one. First--alongside New York, Tokyo and Paris--London is one of the four great world cities. It is the United Kingdom's central showcase for British and international talent. Often, international artists and companies can exhibit or perform elsewhere in the UK only if there is also a London element to their tour to make it viable.
London is one of the most culturally diverse cities in the UK; 45 per cent. of British ethnic minorities live in London, making up almost 25 per cent. of the city's
population and speaking some 300 languages. By 2001, more than one third of Londoners will be from ethnic minority groups. London's cultural diversity is inextricably linked to its creative and artistic diversity.
Secondly, with more than 7 million residents, London is the largest city in Europe, and it is growing. Every day, 1 million people commute to central London; 2 million British people make a day trip to the city, and half a million stay overnight. London's daytime population is getting on for 10 million, which is 21 per cent. of the total for England.
Thirdly, and perhaps most important, London is a city of great need: 13 of the 20 most severely deprived districts in England are in London; 65 per cent. of the most deprived estates are in London; and one third of Londoners are in poverty or on the margins of poverty. London has the highest rate of serious crime in the UK, and the highest level of street homelessness, and inner London has double the national proportion of children living in poverty. That is why I strongly urge the House to recognise why the level of funding for the arts in London is as it is, and why London should get more.
London is a very special place for the arts. One third of all the artists in the UK are living and working in London. They include 29 per cent. of the visual artists, 30 per cent. of the photographers, 40 per cent. of the musicians, 41 per cent. of the writers, 50 per cent. of the actors and 80 per cent. of the dancers. London has a concentration of artists and centres of excellence that we need to support. London is the seedbed of the arts and it is a magnet for creative talent from around the world. Londoners are more likely to go to the arts than people elsewhere in the country. In London, 2.5 million adults regularly attend the arts. There are 83 million cultural attendances in London each year. I have read out those statistics because that case is not often made.
People ask why London receives so much of the lottery funds for the arts. Again, I want to make it clear that the view is skewed, because almost half--49 per cent.--of the total funding for London has been awarded to projects of national significance. We have heard, for example, about the Royal Opera house. The rest, 51 per cent., goes to projects of regional or local benefit. It is extremely important to separate those two categories.
In terms of large-scale capital grants, London has received 18 per cent. of the arts awards for England, which is 39 per cent. by value, but 70 per cent. of that has been for national projects. Discounting the funding for those, London has received only 12 per cent. of the total. It is important to focus on that point. A great deal of investment is needed to extend the work done with that 12 per cent. of funding to the socially deprived areas of London, as well as to restore the crumbling buildings of the national institutions that are often the home of the greatest and finest artistic work in the UK.
"those 'resistant' to digital TV are precisely those viewers who most value the types of programming in which they believe the BBC excels",
and they would "be . . . attracted to switch" to digital if the BBC were able to devote to it proper resources--which I believe would be forthcoming only from a digital licence fee addition. I strongly support that opinion. I believe that that is the only way--except for my second suggestion, which I am coming to--digital penetration would climb from the 50 to 60 per cent. plateau to the crucial cut-off that the Secretary of State has said must be met before the analogue signal is switched off.
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